Author: staff

The exemption gives countries room to increase their spending on defense up to 1.5 percent of their gross domestic product each year for four years without breaching EU fiscal rules. Germany is the only major EU economy planning to use the clause. Countries with stretched budgets, such as Italy or France, are not asking fiscal flexibility for procuring military equipment — nor are countries with much healthier public finances, such as the Netherlands or Sweden. Despite falling into the latter group, Denmark also decided to join in on the request to send a political message. Economy Minister Stephanie Lose said…

It was a week when penguins, bonds, the new German coalition, Louisiana soybeans, fossil fuels, the EU’s Digital Markets Act, France’s creaking politics and American bourbon all became one news story. POLITICO explains what got us all yippy. Apr 11 11 mins read

PARIS — Malgré la pression croissante de Berlin et de Bruxelles — et la nécessité de riposter aux attaques de Donald Trump contre le commerce international —, la France refuse toujours d’approuver l’accord commercial entre l’UE et les pays sud-américains du Mercosur. Mi-avril, le nouveau meilleur ami d’Emmanuel Macron, le futur chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz, a assuré que le président français revenait sur son opposition au traité de libre-échange et “penchait désormais pour la ratification de l’accord avec le Mercosur”. Une affirmation, que les autorités françaises se sont empressées de démentir, un responsable du ministère des Affaires étrangères déclarant que…

As before, lowering duties on imported cars and the zero-for-zero mutual offer on industrial goods have not been taken off the table. Cooperating on China’s trade barriers and overproduction is another area where Brussels sees space for cooperation with Washington.   However, EU diplomats caution that any offer will be tightly constrained by internal divisions among member countries, some of whom are reluctant to be seen as yielding to U.S. pressure and others careful not to alienate one of the EU’s historical allies.  The briefing of European ambassadors was held in a restricted setting by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s…

A wildfire has forced the closure of the main highway linking Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, sending at least a dozen people to hospital and turning the skies grey.Video footage showed vehicles stranded nearby as flames spread throughout the area, while another video showed the fire approaching a Catholic monastery.The fire was being whipped up by strong winds and hot, dry weather.The cause is being investigated.Help was on the way from across the region, including aircraft from Italy, Croatia and North Macedonia, Israeli officials said.Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said his office was also in touch with officials in the UK, France, the…

Today, the platform has about 95 million users in Europe, down from around 105 million last year, representing a 10.5 percent drop in six months. Lithuania and Luxembourg both lost a quarter of their users. Musk — who has been one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most prominent advisers during the first 100 days of his second term in office — acquired X, then known as Twitter, in 2022. His changes to the platform’s rules, and encouragement of right-wing political movements from the United States to Europe, have sparked criticism about the website’s amplification of disinformation and hate speech. The…

“The investigation is ongoing in order to determine the circumstances of the events, the context in which they occurred, and to identify the perpetrator(s),” the statement added. This shooting is the latest in a wave of gun violence that has plagued the Belgian capital in recent months. Just weeks ago, two shootings took place in the same Anderlecht district. In total, 11 shootings were reported in the first six weeks of 2025 alone, resulting in two deaths and four injuries. Authorities have linked the recent surge in violence to escalating gang-related activity and drug trafficking, which has intensified over the…

Some 8,500 people are expected to attend — including 6,000 government officials, 2,000 journalists and 500 participants in a NATO Public Forum on the sidelines of the summit. The combined effect of airspace restrictions and the use of an entire runway for state flights will reduce the capacity of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport by 10 percent during the summit. Restrictions at sea will also apply in a zone out to more than 22 kilometers off the coast near The Hague, with limited access guaranteed to authorized fishermen and tour boats during the three days before the NATO summit, and a complete…

A 54-year old Irish woman who has lived legally in the United States for more than four decades has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the basis of a supposedly expunged 20-year old criminal conviction.Cliona Ward, who is originally from Dublin, has lived in the US since she was 12 years old and holds a green card. Ward was detained by ICE on 19 March after returning from a trip to Ireland to visit her father, who suffers from dementia.”She was handcuffed, shackled her and escorted her though the airport – like a hardened criminal. She was…

Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko traveled to Washington on Wednesday to ink the agreement. The terms of the deal include assurances that Ukraine will not need to pay back prior aid as debt and that the U.S. will contribute to a reconstruction fund. “Yes, we were planning to sign the deal today,” the senior Ukrainian official said. “The United States also agreed to contribute to the reconstruction fund. For example, if the U.S. gives Ukraine air defense systems, their money […] can be considered as a contribution to the fund.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously refused to sign two draft…